I'm just gonna come right out and say it: This theme doesn't make any sense to me. So there are phrases where the word "stock" is replaced by a word that rhymes with "stock" for some reason. The added words don't seem to have anything else in common and there isn't any consistency in the way they were changed. To top it all off, the whole mess is explained by the phrase STOCK OPTIONS. What the heck am I missing here?

Bullets:

14A: "Rendezvous With __": Hugo-winning Arthur C. Clarke novel (RAMA). Never heard of this book. Also, isn't it weird that there's a literary award named after Hugo Chavez?

17A: Gp. dissolved 12/26/1991 (USSR). The "group" designation really threw me off here. I was thinking the answer would be a company. I briefly considered that it might be a band, but "dissolved" isn't really the right word for a band break-up.

24A: What serious players play for (KEEPS). Cute clue.

28A: Act that gets you a hand (DEAL). As I was solving, I took this clue/answer pair to mean that if you undertake and action that results in a DEAL, it's sealed with a handshake. It wasn't until I was reviewing the puzzle for this write-up that it's just referring to playing cards.

43A: "This American Life" radio host Glass (IRA). I don't listen to "This American Life" religiously, but I catch it once in a while. One of my favorite episodes ever is the one where this guy tells a story about a voice-mail message a student at Columbia got from his mom that went, well … basically the equivalent of "viral" back before the Internet really caught on. Back then the students could forward voice-mail messages on to other people and this particular message made the rounds to everyone on campus. The guy telling the story talks to a bunch of the people who heard the message and then (yay!) actually finds a recording of it. It's really very funny. If you're interested, the episode is called "Recordings for Someone." Google it!

64A: It precedes di or da, in a Beatles song (OB-LA). Thanks for the ear worm!

67A: Roulette bet (NOIR). French!

3D: Marathoner's lament (I'M SORE). I'm sure this is a fine, fine answer, but I have to say that I'm pretty sure I could come up with at least 50 other "laments" that would be more realistic than this one. "These freaking blisters are killing me," "I really have to pee," "Oh God, why did I think this would be a good idea?" …. Just sayin'.

13D: Artificial locks (WIG). I tried "rug" first, which caused all kindsa confusion over in that section.

21D: Infant who escaped Krypton (KAL-EL). I can never remember if it's KAL-EL or "Kel-Al." Mnemonic anyone?

30D: Orson, e.g., in a '70s-'80s sitcom (ORKAN). And that, ladies and gentlemen, is today's installment of "Mork and Mindy Trivia."

With STOCK OPTIONS as the theme reveal, something that has kept me in the USA, as I contemplate a return to a former USSR, and allowed me to become 'semi-retired' and the word-play on it, this may be my favorite LAT ever.

Overall, I'd give it a B- because of the clunker answers: shlock market and aoler as well as the gp. cluing for USSR. It was more of a misleading clue than a difficulty issue. They can't hit them out of the park everytime.

Man, tough crowd today. I thought the theme was pretty clever. Any puzzle with LIGER is a winner with me. It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic (see: Napolean Dynamite)

I liked today's puzzle, the theme was ... quirky and different enough to capture my attention. Not many gimme answers but nothing esoteric like 'truckler' or that famous city near Provence town, Truro.

I had TUMBLE for playground mishap as I got OBLA straight away - stuck with it forever till I had answers that just wouldn't fit and to change it. Didn't like the theme, too obscure, left me shaking my head when I was done, dislike "goofy" words in xword puzzles.

Ex dad, was a former stock broker, so caught on quickly to theme, without the reveal. Agree with @RP on the "options" for morphing (or mutilating?) the word "stock." @SethG's SHOCKEXCHANGE might have been the better choice here--(My brother and I used to torture each with the winter build up SOCK static...point, AIM finger and ZAP!

AOLER blew chunks if you ask me (not that anyone has). I had CLOT, OPART, and HTEST penciled in, knew I'd either have to guess or look up the fish, even with OP_H, and had even figured out that "surfer" probably referred to web surfing--but _OLER totally confounded me. I mean, do people still actually use AOL to dial up the Internet and, ahem, surf? From now on, if they're going to reference AOL, I think they should do so in a historical context. Also, what's with two days in a row with the Mork and Mindy references?

The Hugo Awards are named after Hugo Gernsback, a famous magazine editor who did much to bring science fiction to a wider audience. Gernsback founded Amazing Stories, the first major American SF magazine, in 1926. He is widely credited with sparking a boom in interest in written SF. In addition to having the Hugo Awards named after him he has been recognized as the “Father of Magazine SF” and has a crater on the Moon named after him.

I've had a wicked time getting the chats to load on my blackberry but today patience was rewarded. Iwas in pretty good puzzle form today (vs yesterday) and the commentary has definately added to the fun... Wishes for a happy weekend ahead for all.

I guess the themes have different misspelled "options" for "stock." Theme didn't bother me too much.

Can't say how much I hate AOLER though ... I never used AOL and know few who still do. Maybe FBER is the new USER (facebooker, lol).

I didn't have a problem w/ USSR being referred to as a group ... but maybe that's because I got it right off, ;) Having been in Berlin shortly before the wall came down in 1989 makes that a relevant life experience for me, and the fall of the USSR was soon after.

I was thinking of the handshake after the DEAL, too ... thanks for clearing that one up :)

Not a bad puzzle, but I'm not sure it was Friday-worth. Maybe Wednesday?